LOS ANGELES — Brian Bazzel stood in his kitchen as Dustin Johnson readied a tee shot on the 433-yard 12th hole at Kapalua. It was the final day of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, an event Johnson would easily win by eight strokes. While the margin of victory stood out, it couldn’t outdo DJ’s eventual near ace that left Bazzel jumping up and down in the comfort of his own home.
No, the shot didn’t excite Bazzel because he’s a big fan of the world’s No. 1 golfer; it excited him because of the club he used to get within six inches of acing a par 4. Bazzel is the Vice President of Product Creation for TaylorMade Golf and played a big role in creating the groundbreaking Twist Face technology.
"Plenty of horsepower here."
Tracking … TRACKING …
#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/kiqBRT3U81
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 8, 2018
In a nutshell, Twist Face, available in TaylorMade’s M3 & M4 drivers, corrects the most common mistakes golfers have at all levels: making contact with the ball on the low-heel or high-toe of the club face. By literally twisting the face, TaylorMade created a more forgiving driver that accounts for natural swing tendencies.
Another breakthrough included in the M3 & M4 is a Hammerhead slot engineered to work with Twist Face to deliver max ball speed and a larger sweet spot. That, combined with a moveable weight on the head, make this new line of metalwoods the most innovative ever.
“The story, once you hear it a few times, it’s like, ‘It’s totally obvious, why didn’t I think of that?'” Bazzel said of Twist Face. “It wasn’t obvious until we had the data and we could understand it to this point. Some of the best innovations, they do end up sounding so obvious.”
The data Bazzel talks about stems from roughly half a million shots taken in real golf environments. “We wanted to have as many swings in the golfing environment where golfers are actually playing, as opposed to in a net, in a room which is the way you used to get it five years ago,” he said.
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It wasn’t just data driving the groundbreaking innovation; feedback from some of the world’s top players helped too. TaylorMade staffs a team of innovators to work with players on a daily basis adjusting clubs down to minute specifications and learning exactly what they’re looking for.
“There are players that have talked about it … you know, ‘Oh, I’m a high-toe guy and that then goes so far left, and how can I get rid of that,'” said TaylorMade’s Senior Manager of Tour Operations, Chris Trott. “They started the conversations and obviously the engineers, they’re floating around trying to nitpick those things and that’s what they get at the end of every week from myself or when they chat with Wade [Liles]: ‘what have you built?'”
They built something that Bazzel puts in the upper-echelon of TaylorMade innovations; even next to the breakthrough of the original metalwood.
Before watching some of the best in the world tee it up with Twist Face at last week’s Genesis Open, I was able to test it out myself at Angeles Golf Club in Sunland-Tujunga, Calif. I’ll spare you (and myself) my score, but will say that Twist Face is capable of being a boon to those of us who hit the ball with far less oomph than Dustin Johnson.
Shots that I know weren’t hit in the sweet spot of the club were noticeably more forgiving than if hit with my normal bulge-and-roll driver.
As for the guys who make a living playing the game — a great number played Riviera — site of the Genesis Open — with an M3 or M4 in their bag. One of those was Johnson, who was overheard making a comment that his drives were going ‘too straight.’ What a problem.
Following his Thursday round, Tiger Woods headed back to the driving range to continue working and hit a significant number of shots with Twist Face. He had the following to say about the tech via the TaylorMade website: “Twist Face is a game-changer. It really is. TaylorMade has always been the leader in drivers and technology — this is just another reason why TaylorMade is so good.”
“The biggest benefit to Twist Face is what you can’t even measure,” Bazzel explained. “It’s when a golfer goes to a tee and they have that little added confidence because they know that miss is just a touch better and how much more aggressive they can swing at that. Or choose to hit driver as opposed to a fairway wood.”
The M4 can be had starting at the price of $429.99 and the M3 at $499.99.